Train the trainer: Why a top performing employee won’t automatically be a top performing supervisor

According to Harvard Business Review, naming a manager is one of the most important decisions in a company.

Poor managers, however, cost companies billions of dollars annually--$398 billion to be exact. While it seems logical that a top performing employee would make a great manager, some top performing employees transitioned into supervisory roles are contributing to company losses. Why? Learning is key to economic growth, and lack of supervisorial training has substantial costs.

According to Gallup, great managers have common traits.

• They motivate their employees and communicate the company’s vision and mission.
• They are assertive; they make decisions based on company goals and stick to them.
• They enjoy working with people. They build relationships with employees and support open communication.
• They focus on company culture, steering clear of a toxic work environment but maintaining accountability across the board.

Companies often promote top performing employees with the belief that leadership skills will come naturally. Effective management requires training. After all, skills that make an employee a top salesman like a competitive attitude, do not always translate to great leadership skills.

There is a science to successful leadership, and the 2016 Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report states that 89% of executives rated the need to strengthen their leadership. High-performing companies have proved the effectiveness of leadership training for supervisors. Forbes reports that “high-impact” companies spend significantly more on training than lower-performing companies. The learning and development investment pays off.

We’ve heard the adage: leaders eat last. Top performing employees, especially those in creative or commission-based industries, can struggle with transitioning into supervisory roles. Management requires giving up individual contribution and focusing on delegation. It’s tempting for bosses to take on the “best” tasks, assigning the rest to staff. This, however, is a drain on company time. Executives who fail to delegate cost company’s money. Companies who invested in formal learning hours on delegation saw higher profits than those who did not.

One-on-ones matter. Employees who receive little to no one-on-one time with their manager are more likely to be disengaged. Supervisors who receive training on relationship building, benchmarking, and talent development have more effective one-on-ones. Employees receiving productive one-on-ones are four times as likely to be engaged in their work.

Management requires effective leadership, and the transition from individual contributor to manager is a huge adjustment. When promoting a top performing employee, recognize that the cost of training is less than the opportunity cost of forgoing training. Training not only increases productivity and profit, it betters the quality of work life. Successful companies require good management, and newly promoted managers produce better results when trained.

Whether you are looking to forge new leadership or build upon your successful management team, the Goosmann Law Fim is here to help you determine what path you should take. If you have any questions about the content above, please do not hesistate to contact one of our Sioux City, Sioux Falls, or Omaha attorneys.